Faculdade

Departamento

Maria Teresa Barros Silva

Associate Professor with Habilitation
Chemistry Section

Research Interests

Objectives:

To try to contribute for the development of the organic chemistry.
To develop projects with eventual industrial application.
To establish collaboration with other scientific areas, in order to promote the application of the organic synthesis.
To contribute for the sustainable chemistry using renewable resources and applying eco-friendly methodologies.

Research themes approached:

Development of new organometallic reagents for organic synthesis.
Synthesis of new chiral auxiliaries. Studies on selective synthetic methodologies. Asymmetric macrocycles with biological interest. Asymmetric synthesis of natural products of economic interest. Exploitation of carbohydrates as green raw materials. Development of the selective chemistry of saccharose. Studies on cycloaddition reactions under unusual conditions. Selective synthesis of ligands for bioremediation. Synthesis of new polymers and studies of their properties. Reactions in water as solvent and under microwave irradiation. Organocatalysis. Glycoconjugates.

Main Publications

- Organocatalysis

. The first enantioselective [3+2] cycloaddition of epoxides to arylisocyanates: synthesis of chiral oxazolidinone phosphonates, M. T. Barros, A. M. F. Phillips, Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 2010, 21, 2746−2752.

. Organocatalyzed synthesis of tertiary alpha-hydroxyphosphonates via a highly
regioselective modified Pudovik reaction, M. T. Barros, A. M. Faísca Phillips,
Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2011, 20-2, 4028 -4036.

- Exploitation of carbohydrates as green raw materials

. Ziegler-Natta catalysed polymerisation for the preparation of potentially biodegradable copolymers with pendant sucrose moieties, M.T. Barros* and K.T. Petrova Eur. Polym. J., 2009, 45(1), 295–301.

. Synthesis and biodegradation studies of new copolymers based on sucrose derivatives and styrene. M.T. Barros, K.T. Petrova and R.P. Singh Eur. Polym J. 2010, 46, 1151-1157.

. Synthesis of Hydrophilic and Amphiphilic Acryl Sucrose Monomers and Their Copolymerisation with Styrene, Methylmethacrylate and α- and ß-Pinenes. M.T. Barros*, K.T. Petrova and R.P. Singh Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2010, 11, 1792-1807.

. Library of Mild and Economic Protocols for the Selective Derivatization of Sucrose under Microwave Irradiation. M. Teresa Barros, Krasimira T. Petrova, Paula Correia-da-Silva and Taterao M. Potewar, Green Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1GC15228A.
http://xlink.rsc.org/?doi=C1GC15228A

- Use of alternative to conventional reaction conditions

. Exploiting microwave-assisted neat procedures: synthesis of N-aryl and N-alkylnitrones and their cycloaddition en route for isoxazolidines, M.M. Andrade R.C. Pinto and M.T. Barros Tetrahedron, 2008, 64, 10521-10530.

. Synthesis of gamma-lactones by desymmetrization. A synthesis of (-)-muricatacin, M.T. Barros, M.A.J.Charmier, C. D. Maycock and T. Michaud Tetrahedron, 2009, 65, 396-399.

. Sucrose chemistry: Fast and Efficient Microwave-assisted Protocols for the Generation of Sucrose-Containing Monomer Libraries. M. Teresa Barros, Krasimira T. Petrova, Paula Correia-da-Silva. Book chapter in Microwave Heating (ISBN 979-953-307-020-8), InTech - Open Access Publisher, 2011.

- Synthesis of new chelating agents

. Complexation studies of N,N´-ethylenedi-L-cysteine with some metal ions, M.T. Barros, J. Martins, R.M. Pinto, M.S. Santos and H.M.V.M. Soares Journal of Solution Chemistry, 2009, 38, 1504-1519.

. Potentiometric and UV-Vis spectroscopic studies of cobalt(II), copper(II) and nickel(II) complexes with N,N’-(S,S)bis[1-carboxy-2-(imidazol-4 yl)ethyl]ethylenediamine, J. Martins, P. Gameiro, M.T. Barros and H.M.V.M. Soares J. of Chem. Eng. Data, 2010, 55, 3410-3417.

. Aqueous equilibrium and solution structural studies of the interaction of N,N´-Bis(4-imidazolymethyl)etylenediamine with Ca(II), Cd(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Mg(II), Mn(II), Ni(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) metal ions, J. Martins, R. Pinto, P. Gameiro, M.T. Barros and H.M.V.M Soares Journal of Solution Chemistry , 2010, 39, 8, 1153-1167.

. Cadmium(II), Lead(II), and Zinc(II) Ions Coordination of N,N '-(S,S)Bis[1-carboxy-2-(imidazol-4yl)ethyl]ethylenediamine: Equilibrium and Structural Studies, Joao G. Martins, M. Teresa Barros, Rui M. Pinto, and Helena M. V. M. Soares, J. of Chem. Eng. Data, 2011, 56 ,3, 398-405

-Collaboration with other scientific areas

. Fast synthesis employing a microwave assisted neat protocol of new monomers potentially useful for the preparation of PDLC films. M. Teresa Barros, Ana I. Mouquinho, Krasimira T. Petrova, Mara D. Saavedra, João C. Sotomayor, Cent.. Eur. J. Chem., 2011, 9 (4), 557-566.
http://www.versita.com/cejc/
. Films based on new methacrylate monomers: synthesis, characterisation and electro-optical properties. Ana Mouquinho, Mara Saavedra, Alexandre Maiau, Krasimira Petrova, M. Teresa Barros, J. L. Figueirinhas, João Sotomayor, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst.., 2011, 542:1, 132 - 140.
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~db=all~content=a938646351~fulltext=713240930
. Competing Channels in the Thermal Decomposition of Azidoacetone Studied by Pyrolysis in Combination with Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometric Techniques, P. O’Keeffe, G. Scotti, D. Stranges, M.T. Barros, P. Rodriques and M.L. Costa J. Pys. Chem. A , 2008, 18, 453-455.

Azidoacetone as a complexing agent of transition metals. Ni2+/Co2+ promoted dissociation of the C-C bond in azidoacetone, N. Couto, M.T. Fernandez, P. Rodrigues, M.T. Barros, M.L. Costa, B.C. Cabral and F. Duarte Journal of Mass Spectrometry, in press.